Program to open mdf. Ways to open mdf and mds files
There are enough various formats files and it is easy for beginners to get lost in them. For example, not everyone knows that there are other archive files besides the ISO format. Therefore, within the framework of this article, I will tell you what they are and how to open mdf and mds files.
So let's get started.
Note: If you are only interested in how to open an mdf file, then there is a corresponding video at the bottom of the article.
What are mdf and mds files for?
MDF format or Media Disc image file designed to store CD images and DVD disc ov. In other words, archive file, inside which all data is stored, in much the same way as it happens with ISO file ohm. That's why MDF file usually has enough big size. Together with this file, the kit always comes with small file with the MDS extension, which stores all the specific data about the original disk. Both of these files are needed in order for the data from the disk to be usable.
Note: Some programs use given format to store your information. Therefore, before trying to open them, I advise you to make sure that there is an mds file with the same name.
How to open mds file?
As already mentioned, an MDS file stores metadata about the disc, namely the title of the CD or DVD, track information, and so on. Therefore, it cannot be opened without an MDF file, inside which the data itself is located. So, if you heard the phrase "how to open an mds file", then you should mean the mdf file, which will be discussed further.
Note: It is important to understand that although the MDS file is not opened, it must still be located next to the MDF file.
How to open mdf file?
By default, Windows 7 does not have tools for opening an mdf file, so you need to use programs to emulate CD and DVD discs (there are all the necessary links to programs inside the review). In principle, you can use any of them, but in this article I will show you how to do this using Daemon Tools. The choice was stopped on her because she is simple, supports the Russian language and is very easy to handle.
Open mdf file with Daemon Tools
First of all, download this program from the review, the link to which was left a little higher, or enter in the search engine "Download Daemon Tools Lite". Please note that you need exactly Lite version, since the rest are paid.
During the installation wizard steps, make sure you select "Free License" as shown below
After the program is installed, an icon with a lightning bolt in a circle will appear at the bottom in the notification area (tray), which is designed to quick access to Daemon Tools. Now you need to click on the icon right click mouse and select the following "Virtual drives" -> "Add virtual SCSI drive", then wait until the drive is created (may take some time).
Now that the drive has been created, you can load the mdf file into it. To do this, right-click on the icon again and select "Virtual Drives" -> "Drive 0:" -> "Mount Image...". After that, a window will open where you will need to select your mdf file.
After that, all information from the mdf file, in other words, a CD or DVD disk, will be available in the created drive. For example, if you were given an image with a free toy, then most likely a window will appear for selecting an action (autorun, open as a directory, etc.). If nothing appears, then open the corresponding drive letter in Explorer (it is indicated next to the selected drive in the menu). For example, if you look at the figure above, "Drive 0:" is the drive letter "F".
And for a snack, the corresponding video.
Often the user faces the problem of how to open an mdf file. Files with the mdf extension can be of various types, but most often they are CD-DVD disc images in the Media Disc Image File format.
A disk image is a file generated by a special program for copying to . Such a disk image stores data that has been written optical media as well as additional information.
In order to access the data stored in the mdf file, you need to install a program for working with disk images, after which, as virtual disk gadfly. To solve this problem, there are many various programs. Both paid and free. In that short review we will look at some of the most popular ones. So, how to open an mdf file?
One of the most popular disk imaging programs is free utility DAEMON Tools Lite. By installing this software, the user will no longer have problems opening mdf files. Moreover, DAEMON Tools Lite allows you to open not only mdf files, but also other popular disk image formats. FROM DAEMON Tools Lite create up to 4 virtual drives, which allows the user to open multiple mdf files at once.
Key features of DAEMON Tools Lite:
- Mounting disk images. Supported formats: mdx, iso, b5t, b6t, bwt, mds/mdf, ccd, cdi, ape/cue, bin/cue, flac/cue, nrg, isz;
- Creation and support of up to 4 virtual drives simultaneously;
- Virtual drives can work in SCSI mode. This improves disk emulation;
- Create disk images. Only iso, mds/mdf and mdx are available for creating images;
- Compressing disk images;
- Protect disk images with a password;
- Cataloging and managing a collection of disk images;
- Work in the background;
- File association support for mounting disk images from any folder;
- Management of the main functions of the program using the gadget on the desktop;
- Russian language support;
Alcohol 52%
Like DAEMON Tools Lite this application has full set all necessary functions to create and mount images of CD-DVD discs. Alcohol 52% has support a large number languages, including Russian. This allows even a less experienced user to work comfortably with the program. Alcohol 52% allows you to open mdf files, as well as disk images in CCD, ISO, BIN, CUE, CDI, NRG, BWT, BWS, BWI, BWA formats. In this case, the user can simultaneously connect up to 6 virtual drives.
Other features of the program Alcohol 52%:
- Support for all popular formats disks. Among which: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-XA, CD+G, Photo CD, Video CD, Mixed Mode, Multi-session, DVD-ROM, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video;
- Support for all ATAPI SCSI drives. Among which: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, DVD-RW;
- Support for IEEE-1394 (Firewire) and USB interfaces;
MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD-ROM
fast and light program to create and connect disks. Besides mdf files also supports great amount other formats. It also allows you to use up to 15 virtual disks simultaneously.
Other features of Virtual CD/DVD-ROM:
- Mounting disk images. Supported formats: BIN (CDRWin), CIF (Easy CD Creator), IMA/IMG (Generic disk images), NRG (Nero - Burning ROM), MDF/MDS (Fantom CD), IMG/CCD (CloneCD), VCD (Farstone Virtual Drive), P01/MD1/XA (Gear), VaporCD (Noum Vapor CDROM), VC4/000 (Virtual CD), C2D ( WinOnCD), VDI (Virtuo CD Manager), CDI (DiscJuggler), BWI/BWT (BlinkWrite), TAO/DAO (Duplicator) and PDI (Instant Copy);
- Compressing disk images. Works for formats: NRG, ISO, MDS, CUE and CCD in UIF;
- Create disk images. For creation formats are supported: BIN/CUE, ISO, NRG and UIF.
Learn more about the MDF format
So, we have already considered programs for opening MDF files and, in conclusion, we will consider the MDF format itself. As we already know, the MDF (Media Disc Image File) format is designed to store disc images. At the same time, it is designed with the expectation of creating disk images that could bypass copy protection systems. Such systems can often be found on discs with computer games.
An MDF file is always accompanied by another MDS file. For correct operation The disk image needs both of these files.
The MDF file stores all the data written to the CD. In this MDF, it resembles a regular ISO file in many ways. Because of this, the size of the MDF file is close to the size of the data written to disk.
The MDS file stores metadata about the original storage medium. This metadata allows you to bypass protection and run games using only a disk image, without real media. The amount of metadata is small, so the size of the MDS file is small.
Files with mdf and mds format is a disk image. Media Disc Image File is full name file with the extension mdf. In most cases mdf and mds files go together.
Files like mdf and mds are disk images
Files with the extension mdf and mds have different purposes and contents. Such mdf files usually contain an image of some game or program, and mds files are information files. Create and open a file. mdf can special programs which can create a virtual CD or DVD disc. Such programs for opening mdf files include Alcohol 120%, MagicISO, H + H Software Virtual CD, Smart Projects IsoBuster, PowerISO, UltraISO.
How to unpack mdf file
You can unpack mdf files with the program. Running UltraISO program you need to click in the opened program File — Open. A window will open in which you need to find and open the mdf file.
Program for mdf files UltraISO After that, the contents of the file will be displayed in the program window. mdf.
The files that need to be extracted to a folder are displayed Click Action — Extract and in the window that opens, select the folder into which the mdf files will be unpacked. Files moved to the folder can be opened and run.
How to mount mdf image
If you have installed the game but the game does not start and asks you to insert a disk, then try opening this file with the virtual disk that the program creates. After installing the Alcohol 120% program on your computer, you need to restart the computer and a virtual disk will appear on your computer. After opening the explorer, you need to press This computer, right-click on the drive and select from the list that appears Mount — Open.
Mount mdf image to virtual drive A window will open in which you need to find your folder in which the file is located. mdf and file. mds and click on one of them. The image is mounted and you will again need to right-click on the drive and select Open. After that, all the files in this file will open in your explorer. With the help of these files, you can install the game on your computer or see some interactive instructions, as well as read the document.
Hello friends and readers of my blog! Many beginners who are just getting acquainted with the computer are wondering how to open mdf / mds files. In this I will talk about free program designed specifically for this case, and of course detailed instructions attached in pictures.
Program for opening mdf/mds files — Daemon Tools
Now I will tell you how to open the format mdf mds. To begin with, we need the program itself, you can download it for free from the official site. Look for the green "Download" button.
The articles on my blog are designed for a beginner, I always try to be able to open files with the mdf and mds extensions, even for complete "dummies" who are just mastering the computer. And maybe you don’t know where the spacebar is, or, but the main thing is to learn and everything will work out.
So distracted from the topic, you need to tell about the program, when installing it there is one nuance, you need to select " Free license". You don't want to pay for it, do you?
Do not forget to uncheck the boxes after installation, unless of course you need a Yandex browser, by the way, I wrote how to remove ads in this and other browsers using the adblock plus add-on, if you are tired of advertising on the Internet, I suggest.
You already know how to open mdf / mds files, now it remains to show how to do this, there are many ways, but I will show the fastest one. After installing the program, you have another drive, only virtual. You can put (mount) our mdf / mds files into it - this is the disk itself (the disk image is its digital copy) for this you just need to go to Daemon program tools. Choose our virtual drive and mount the image into it. Another option is to simply double-click on the image, and it will also boot into the virtual drive.
We select the image that you want to open, and everything is now in the virtual drive.
So you have learned how and with what to open mdf / mds files, usually these are games (exact copies of the disk), now you can install them without any problems!
MDF and MDS files are files that come in pairs. MDF and MDS files are a disk image that was captured using the Alcohol program. Below we will consider how and with what programs these files are launched on a computer.
MDF and MDS are two paired files. If any of these files are missing on the computer, the image will not work. To run the existing image on the computer, we need to run the MDF file.
There are many programs on the Internet to run an MDF file, but they still do not, but create a virtual drive on the computer and mount a disk image from MDF.
Launchers for MDF and MDS
1. UltraISO
A popular program for working with images. In this program, you can not only mount images, but also write information to disk, convert an image to another format, etc. The program is not free, but it has a free trial period.
Download UltraISO for free
2. Alcohol 120%
An excellent program for creating virtual drives and mounting MDF images. It has a simple interface, as well as huge popularity, so there is an answer to any of your questions about this program on the Internet.
The program is not free, but it has a free version called Alcohol 52%, which is enough for most everyday tasks.
Download Alcohol 120% for free
Download the program from the official site
3. Diemon Tools
Not less than popular program, which is actively used for viewing different types disks. The program will create a virtual drive for reading disks, after which it will create an image from the MDF file that will be launched.
The program also has free version which is sufficient for most users.
Download Diemon Tools for free
Download the program from the official site
If you just need to view the contents of MDF and MDS files, which, in fact, they can be opened by any third-party archiver.
Each presented program is a convenient and popular tool among users for working with various images.